Use of cathodic coatings to cause selective, rapid decay of substrate metals
AssigneeThe United States of America as represented by the Secretary of the Navy
InventorsCharles M. Ringer, Peyton W. Hall, Earl E. Floren
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Abstract
A self-destructive aquatic device for use in a water environment is formed with a body having a metallic portion and a covering preventing exposure of the metallic portion of the body from the water environment. A gap in the covering is used to expose the metallic portion of the body to the water environment. The covering has a cathodic property with respect to the metallic portion of the body, so that the gap and the covering establishing a cathodic-anodic ratio of areas exposed to the water environment to promote erosion of the metallic portion of the body in the water environment. This, in turn, results in controlled break-up of the aquatic device.
Claims6
A self-destructive aquatic device comprising:
- a submersible body comprising a metallic portion;
- a covering for the metallic portion of the submersible body, the covering comprising a metallic coating portion that is adapted to be submersed in an electrolyte for a predetermined period of time at a predetermined depth, the metallic coating portion in electrical communication with the metallic portion of the submersible body;
- and
- at least one gap in the covering permitting the exposure of the metallic portion of the submersible body to the electrolyte for the predetermined period of time at the predetermined depth, wherein each at least one gap delimits one discrete separable section of the submersible body from another discrete separable section of the submersible body;
- wherein when the covering and the at least one gap are submersed in the electrolyte for the predetermined period of time at the predetermined depth, a ratio of a surface area of the covering to a surface area of the at least one gap defines a cathodic-anodic ratio of areas submersed in the electrolyte of between 10:1 and 300:1 to control erosion of the metallic portion of the submersible body such that the submersible body corrodes into a predetermined plurality of independent sections at a predetermined time to cause the aquatic device to self-destruct along the at least one gap such that each said discrete separable section of the submersible body separates from each other said discrete separable section of the submersible body.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.